Spraying systems utilizing spray guns or like spray nozzle assemblies have a wide variety of applications in industrial settings today. Spray guns are very often used to disperse a liquid material, such as to cover an area or object with particles of the sprayed material. One particular usage of such spraying systems is in the preparation of packaged or other food products. For example, a cereal product may be conveyed on a transfer belt past an array of spray guns which coat the cereal product with sweetener, additives, supplements, or the like. Such a system is often more practical than using a more targeted application system, such as manual or automated brushings or other coating devices, to coat individual units of the food product.
However, by its very nature, spraying is directionally less discriminate than more targeted methods, and so the economies generated by avoiding manual labor for the coating process can be offset or minimized by wastage of the sprayed material. This is due to the fact that a substantial amount of the sprayed material may end up on a conveyor belt, support, or other manufacturing element instead of on the product that is intended to be coated. In addition, this overspray typically must be removed from the manufacturing environment by manual labor, incurring additional costs. Moreover, such cleaning often entails halting the production line temporarily while cleaning is performed, causing a loss of productivity.
Hence, a spraying system is needed whereby overspray is minimized, thus maximizing the economies afforded by this type of material delivery technology.